Defense key in Tigers win at Brinkley Memorial Shootout

In a contest that featured three of the top scorers in the area, it turns out the key to Dunnellon's 73-46 victory against St. John was defense.

By John PattonCorrespondent

In a contest that featured three of the top scorers in the area, it turns out the key to Dunnellon's 73-46 victory against St. John in Saturday's Tim Brinkley Memorial Shootout was defense."I thought we came out in the first quarter without a lot of energy (falling behind by eight points)," Tigers' coach Travis Licht said. "But I thought we played hard and defended really well the rest of the way and that carried us."No doubt.After allowing 19 points in the opening quarter, DHS gave up six, 12 and nine in each of the final three periods.As for the scoring leaders, Dunnellon's Desmond Frazier (17.6 ppg) and Andre Hairston (also 17.6 ppg) finished the contest at North Marion with 19 and 18 points, respectively. The Saints' Jordan Bates (15.6 ppg) led his team with 14.The victory was the sixth straight for the Tigers (8-2), while St. John dropped to 2-5.***TRINITY CATHOLIC 73, FOUNDATION 59: The Celtics used a balanced offense that saw five players score in double figures to improve to 7-3.Justin Williams led the way with 13 points, while Christian Clinton added 12. Ulysses Gilbert and Richie DeNicola scored 11 apiece, and Mac Barron finished with 10.Gilbert (2.0 ppg) and DeNicola (1.7 ppg) each scored more than five times their season averages in the win, which snapped a two-game skid for Trinity.Foundation dropped to 5-4.***LAKE WEIR 59, IMG 50: It wasn't always pretty, and as an 18-point lead evaporated into just a three-point advantage with 46.7 seconds remaining, it also got a bit scary for the Hurricanes.But Bronson Maple, Eric Williams and Khamal Reynolds combined to go 6-for-6 from the foul line in the final 32.9 seconds to help LWHS improve to 6-3."It's good to be able to win an ugly game," said Lake Weir coach Bobby Tingle, whose team was led by Jiar Watson's 11 points. "We didn't play particularly well offensively or defensively, and we need to play with more consistency. But it was nice to come out on top even with the lapses we had."***VANGUARD 68, EUSTIS 58: Four Knights scored in double figures, as VHS opened up a 42-21 lead midway through the third quarter and held off EHS.Evans Moreau (16 points), Princeton McQuay (13), Othniel Shelton (12) and Thys Adams (10) paced Vanguard. Kiron Williams (17), Coy Patterson (15) and K.C. Coleman (13) led Eustis, which dropped to 7-3.Knights' coach Phillip Small said his team's performance had good and bad to it."Our turnovers were terrible," Small said. "But we shot the ball really well to help make up for our mistakes."***CITRUS 61, WEST PORT 57: Down by as many as 16 points in the second half, including 53-41 after three quarters, the Wolf Pack made a nice comeback but fell just short."We needed to play an exceptional fourth quarter to win," WPHS coach Lyle Livengood said. "We played well, but not exceptionally."West Port (3-5) was paced by Geron Christian's 14 points. Cousins Desmond Franklin (25 points) and Devin Pryor (14) led Citrus.***NORTH MARION vs. MOUNT DORA: The final game of the day ended after the Star-Banner's deadline. Mount Dora led host North Marion, 27-19, at halftime.